A Final Goodbye
by Crowded Angels
Summary: Only a vampire can kill a vampire... Post- 1.04. Slightest Mina/Galvin


So, the season is over. Bring on season 2, and the DVD's before that!

I've had to rejigger this a wee bit after seeing the finale re: vampiric death, so the slightest spoilers in that sense. If that matters to anyone.

* * *

"Erm, a little help here? Luke?" Ruby asked with growing impatience. She had helped free Galvin from his restraints but she was still firmly attached to the chair. Luke smirked bringing his hand away from the lump on the back of his head, giving his fingers a quick scan for any sign of blood.

"This is becoming a habit, you know?" he said, bending down behind her.

"Hilarious," she muttered, making Luke chuckle. His nimble fingers worked at undoing the knots as Ruby's eye line followed that of Galvin's.

Mina was still sat cradling her son's head on her lap. Her fingers stroked at his rapidly whitened wisps of hair. Ruby's hands suddenly fell to her sides, the cable snaking its way to the ground. Before Luke could claim victory and berate her for being held hostage once again, he glanced to Galvin and, seeing the ever-worried look on his face intensified, followed his line of sight.

He watched as Galvin walked towards her, his large boots thumping against the stone floor. He crouched down next to her, laying his rough hands on her small shoulders, only to be shrugged off. Ruby and Luke silently left the room, as Galvin took a seat refusing to leave Mina's side.

She fingered the delicate hair again, thankful her blindness had reverted back so she didn't have to see his lifeless eyes staring back at her, blaming her for failing him. She kissed his leathery skin one last time, whispering "Goodbye, my baby," before laying his head back on the cold stone. She spun around suddenly, burying her face in Rupert's neck, his coat bunched in her fierce grip as sobs began to rack her body. He rubbed circles on her back, gently shushing her. Usually he was totally inept in situations like these, but he had previous knowledge of Quincey's effects on her.

He held her tight against him, his back beginning to ache from the unusual twist he bore on it from when she suddenly pounced on him.

They both fell silent in an instant as they heard a rustle come from the other side of the room. When they heard a groggy-sounding moan with the rustle, realisation set in.

Anika.

Galvin's body tensed as he went to stand up, but Mina tightened her grip on him, her sightless eyes following the noise. Her jaw was set, her eyes hard and fearful, her fingers like talons against his chest; this was her fight.

Galvin pulled her to her feet with him, leaving a lingering squeeze on her arm before slipping out of the door.

He found the young pair on the staircase leading to the outside. Ruby rested her head on Luke's shoulder as he fingered the gun still in his hands. "Where's Mina?" he asked.

Galvin stared intently at the door he had just closed, as if with more determination he could see through the heavy wood.

"Galvin! Where's Mina?" He asked again, force beyond his years in his voice. Ruby lifted her head, sensing the change in atmosphere. Luke rushed up to pass his mentor, only to be stopped with a hand on his chest.

"Only a vampire can kill a vampire," Galvin muttered as the first sound of violence broke through to them.

-

Resembling a baby deer stumbling to its feet, Anika tried to find her balance before pulling at the sake still impaled in her chest. Though she would heal instantly afterwards, actually removing the stake flooded her with all the human pain she had long since forgotten. She threw the ragged wooden post across the room, it smacking into a wall and shattering into splinters. It was only now, taking in her surroundings, that she noticed the body on the floor. She cried out "No!" grabbing at her chest, doubling over. Though he had aged nearly 100 years since before her unconsciousness, she would recognise those hypnotising eyes anywhere.

She attempted to run to him but Mina stepped into her path, Anika only now realising she was there. "You're still here," she spat. The eternal rage of embraced vampirism surged her forward, sending her almost flying through the air with a guttural growl.

Mina allowed herself to transform again, the ingested blood still surging through her veins. As the scales dropped from her eyes, her sight restored to all its heightened glory, she twisted her body to deliver a powerful kick to Anika's mid-section, sending her hurtling back where she came from into the solid stone wall with a resounding crack.

With death not applicable, Anika pulled herself out of the divot the impact had created and onto her feet, shaking her head like a dazed animal. She charged again at full speed, her face even more contorted with determination, hatred and anger.

Mina threw her head back, laughing at the doomed display of defiance. Did Anika really think she could take on a blood descendant of Dracula?

With a roundhouse kick, the lesser vampire fell to the floor head first. In an instant, Mina was behind her and tipping her rusty-haired head to one side. The pale pallour of her neck gave startling resolution to the ruby red blood pumping through her pounding arteries. Before Anika could even think of defending herself, Mina sank her sharpened teeth into the firm yet supple skin.

As the first droplets of blood leaked from the puncture wounds to her tongue, a feeding frenzy began. The rich velvet liquid seeped down her throat as her victim quivered and screamed beneath her touch, unable to refuse. Mina fed hungrily, the excitement of the act rivalling that of any man she had ever known.

Her tongue snaked out, tickling the sweet skin and swirling the warming flow around her excited taste buds.

It took mere minutes to drain her. She hadn't needed to do so, in all honesty, just a single bite would have had the vampire melting before her, but where was the fun in that? As she withdrew her teeth, the limp body disintegrated into a tide before it even hit the floor.

There was no trace of Anika, nor of the death and destruction of her place in the world.

The strength, the power and the thirst was overpowering, Mina felt almost dizzy as everything she'd fought so hard to deny came rushing back to her in an instant. She stood up, her head slowly turning to the scent of fresh blood outside the door, an evil smirk playing across her ruby red lips. She suddenly stepped back as if punched by an invisible force. She tried to regain herself as the internal struggle began. Trying her hardest to fight the urges to attack, to continue feeding, she threw a hand up as Galvin rushed through the door. "No! Stay away!" she warned with frantic eyes and a breaking voice.

For once, Rupert did as he was told, staying in the room but using the door as a shield. He watched her face crease, brows furrowing, lips form a tight line. Worry etched onto his rough features, his mind pleading "Come on, Mina. Get a grip. Don't make me smite you. Please."

Mina let out a deep, blood-curling scream, doubling over in agony. The menacing voices and insatiable thirst melding into one incredible din, its power over her near-impossible to resist. She crouched low, her hands covering her face as she reached back in her memory. She searched frantically for faces and times to ground her to humanity, her chest heaving at the exertion. Finally, through the reddened glare and scenes of tempting horror, she saw Jonathon. Sweet, gentle, loving Jonathon.

Baby Quincey.

Lucy.

Luke. Ruby.

Rupert.

He must have noticed the subtle drop in her shoulders as the dark lost its grip, because Galvin appeared before her, pulling her to her feet. Hands still covering her face, she fell against his chest, his head hitting it with some force. He wrapped his arms around her shoulders, letting her calm down and breathing return to normal from its jagged hitches.

Ruby and Luke peeked around the door, seeing the destruction for the first time. Where'd she go?" Ruby whispered, seeing only the body of Quincey. Luke made a minute motion to Mina. "Bloody hell," she breathed. "Way to go, Mina."

Luke looked at her, eyes wide as if say 'Shut up!".

"What?" she defended. Gesturing to them in turn, she announced, "You had a gun, we got tied to chairs. It took the blind chick to sort it out! That seems like a 'way to go' moment to me."

Luke was about to drag her out by the hood - did she not see that Mina's son had just died? - until he heard a muffled laugh. Mina turned to them, pulling herself out of Galvin's iron grasp. "Thank you, Ruby. I think."

Luke relaxed slightly, receiving a bump and pulled face from Ruby. "So… what happens now?" he asked, gesturing to the body.

"We burn him," Mina answered with Galvin didn't.

Galvin carried the body of Quincey from the building site, Luke guiding Mina through linked arms. It was a silent, grave task, save for the groans of exertion and expletives from the pallbearer. Once they reached outside, the body was dumped on a pile of construction waste in the yard, Rupert coming away rubbing his hands on his jacket. Mina stood back, her mind providing the images her eyes couldn't see.

Not really knowing the procedure for this type of thing, Ruby drooped her head, choppy bangs falling into her eyes. It was one thing to watch a scene like this in a Hammer horror movie, but to watch it play out in real life wasn't something she was sure she wanted to witness. Luke wrapped an arm around her shoulders and she turned into him, her eyes closed and buried into his neck.

"Mina?" Galvin asked, his whisky-rough voice soft.

"I said goodbye to my son a long time ago, Rupert," she replied, though still a tear escaped down her pale cheek.

Galvin turned back to the totem. Pulling a book of matches from one of his deep pockets, he tore one off and dragged it across the sandpaper strip. It burst to fiery light, contrasting the darkened night surrounding it. Tucking it behind the others of the book, he threw the flaming mass to the pile, the builders waste igniting immediately with a whoosh.

As the flash of heat tickled at her skin, she felt Galvin link arms with her, laying a hand across hers with a comforting weight. Her breath still came in emotional hitches, but she inhaled deeply, letting the hot smell of burning wood and flesh become both a harrowing memory and a closing door.


End file.
